78 



FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



Diii'iii^' till' hii'iiiiijil period ciidiiiL; -liiiic oO, 11)24. this division has 

 had to deal with iiiaiix ditficnit conservation i)rohleiiis. Cliief among 

 them. iiivol\iTi<i' this division, has heeii the prohh'ni |)resente(l by a 

 cement power ditch on tlie American iiiver which menaced the lives of 

 hunilretls of deer passing- between their winter and summer ran.ijes. 

 It took eonsiderable experimentation to figure out means of getting 

 the deer safely across the canal. The power company cooperated 

 splendidly in rescuing deer and immediately began the construction of 

 a feiu'e which will i)revent recurrence another year. 



One serious problem in this division is found in the numerous 

 projects where streams are wholly (lixcrted from their channels for 

 power purposes. Seldom is proper consideration given the fish thus 

 destroyed. We sincerely trust that companies concerned wall not divert 

 all the waters in the streams but will permit sufficient water to flow 

 in the main channels to insure the maintenance of trout life. The 

 South Fork of the American River is one of the best trout streams of 

 the state that is available to the large centers of population. It is 

 useless to plant nearly a million trout in this stream and its tributaries 

 if the water in its channel is allowed to be diverted. 



Fig. 19. Rescuing deer from a power ditch on the American River. Until 

 provision was made for safe crossing of migrating deer many were 

 drowned or frozen and hundreds had to be rescued. Photograph by 

 Euell Gray. 



